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Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

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I think Pete is sick of all the pessimism in the media and to some part, in these blogs. 8 and 1 is still 8 and 1 no matter how you slice it. Everyone wants to be an armchair QB, Coach or GM but the truth is none of us have a clue. I hope the media finds more of the good in what’s happening as opposed to what’s wrong soon or I think we’ll see Pete be less and less engaged. We’re in great shape right now. Let’s get a few more ‘W’s in Atlanta and against the Vikings, get to the Bye week and then prepare for the tough December road.

The Rodgers situation is the reason for all the concern in Seattle. 5-2 and holders of the 3rd best record in the conference in spite of terrible blocking going into last night’s game. They’ll be lucky to make the playoffs now.

Incognito is classless trash. Hope he never gets another job in the league. At least Vick is trying to repair his reputation. Incognito just finds new ways to sink even lower.

I posted this in another thread, and I’ll do it here. First, I have to say that I think Richie Incognito is a piece of garbage.

I’m friends with a former offensive lineman from the Dolphins. He posted a facebook status update about the situation. The media is REALLY spinning this into something that it really isn’t. Until we hear the voice mail, you cannot assume what you’ve heard is true.

Attention Dolphin Fans (<– when winning). Listen closely. Richie Incognito is being portrayed completely false. All I hear is he is the ring leader in this crap and it is just far from the truth. Yes, he gets on players and jokes around, AND SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE. This is the truth, there is not "BULLYING" its just some initiation into a close brotherhood in the NFL. funny haircuts for a week, rookie dinners, etc….WE ALL HAD TO DO IT. You get the occasional rotten apple, aka Martin, who doesn't want to be a part of it. Yes, Richie was hard on martin sometimes, but he was hard on everyone! And it was all in fun and he was not the only one who jokes around… this "$15,000" Vegas trip is a trip the Offensive lineman hold every year. It is mandatory to go.. for camaraderie. You are not obligated to go if you have a family emergency etc..but is planned MONTHS in advance. he is just being a baby and i know first hand. The media knows absolutely NOTHING. He never "singled" out Martin, because he jokes with everyone. I know bc i was there for 4 years and with Martin. What you dont know is Martin is an EXTREMELY sensitive person..well, the NFL is comprised of men, not boys.

And for this $15K richie demanding money crap…LOL, THE media are brainwashing jokes. The trip to vegas is planned MONTHS in advance, we order a private Jet etc…book hotels, clubs..the whole 9 yards. EVERYONE pays in advance….when the trip finally came, Martin backed out…WELL GUESS WHAT?! ITS ALREADY PAID FOR BROTHER… unfortunately, and yes it sucks, but he lost out on the $15k and it was relayed he isnt getting paid back…..THE MEDIA IS THE BIGGEST JOKES AROUND, THEY KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT THE SITUATION. somebody post this crap up so ppl know…im tired of reading "sources" …i was there first hand for multiple years and Martin was there too…he is being a complete baby about the situation.

Oh yeah and lastly, the Dolphins organization are a bunch of softy liars and it starts at the top with Jeff "liar" fireland. The coaching staff joke with players just the same, if not more… they say serious crap to us that WOULD NEVER FLY in regular working conditions…i like how they deny anything and then when shit hits the fan, they tell Incognito to leave….LOL, typical Dolphins.

Reminds me when I sacrificed myself on the field and blew my foot out, not once, but TWICE, Both requiring surgery, Same play blew my back out requiring Rods, disc removal, and screws just so I could walk normal (Still cant walk normal to this day). They kicked me to the curb and wouldn't pay me my contract. It wasnt until the NFL made them pay just this month telling them they dont have a choice…its the law….A YEAR LATER! Jeff Ireland is the biggest Joke to NFL football. They should stop pointing the fingers at Richie, and start taking some blame themselves for a matter that doesnt even exist. Thats the dolphins for you..

The only thing I get from your post RADEoN is that the Dolphins organization let an already bad situation get out of control. Ireland is also a total d-bag. That’s not the 1st player to say so. If the Vegas trip was mandatory, was it I’m Martin’s contract? Now look at the Legion of Boom. Nothing mandatory about hanging out together. They definitively like to do that voluntarily.

RDPoulsbo,, I wouldn’t jump to conclusion too fast…. There are some teammates with a history of character that are willing to stand up for Incognito. Maybe it’s just me but I would wait until I hear the whole story before kicking him out of the league….

I’m sure there’s a lot more regarding this that will come out, but let’s not be too surprised here. He’s had issues before including being suspended at Nebraska and lasting all of a week at Oregon before being dismissed. Regardless, I agree with those that feel the Dolphins appear very weak in all of this.

Looks like he is a horses ass, but I don’t know all the facts, so I’ll just think he is a jerk to myself at this point in time.

Interesting line experiments last game, I hope Baily can get more reps and be ok. Lem snaps better than unger.

I don’t know why, or if it’s true, but the second half seemed like they finally got a clue on offense, so for some reason, I expect that to continue. Tate’s deep punt return breakdown was funny…. Uhhh, plant your foot and go! Yeehaaa.

In a much smaller scale I would be surprised if we see the Real Rob Report anymore after this. At least in the locker Room.

The one that Todd posted the other day with Moffitt was a little disturbing when Moffitt goes around the locker room comparing it to the neighborhood. I thought some of, (or at least one DB) was insulted when Moffitt compared their area to the hood.

I just got the feeling that Moffitt was wearing out his welcome in that clip.
And I wouldn’t be surprised that behavior like that contributed to him getting traded.

I have a problem with the whole mentality of you can’t win the game in the first half. Teams that dominate try to win every play. The Seahawks philosophy leads laziness and a belief that we can win no matter how bad we play. It hasn’t bit them yet, I believe it will soon.

I am watching ONLY for our Run-D to improve this weekend. That has been my Biggest concern,, since the playoff last season…. To bad Jesse Williams couldn’t play this season,, he would have been a huge help for our Run-D, imo….

I want us to prove that we can shut down ATL’s Run-Game (64.4 yards per game, worst in NFL)….

Yes, Incognito has a long history of being a d-bag, so I’m not surprised. I’m also not surprised that the Dolphins FO would allow this to go on considering the d-bag at the top. Neither can be held blameless and once Ireland gets fired, I hope he never gets another job in the league as well. Perhaps Incognito is being used to set an example. There are reasons he’d be the one as opposed to one of the other starters, but it’s not like he’s blameless in this mess.

I don’t think stopping a washed up Steven Jackson will be any indication of an improved run defense this week. If he does run for 100 yards, then there’s real cause for panic. If they can’t stop him, then how are they going to stop AP and Gore?

I would not expect a rookie to solve our run problems. Jesse Williams fell to the 5th round for a reason. I am ok with us drafting him in the 5th round and hope he can overcome his knee issues. But I have my doubts….. he feels like Marcus Tubbs to me – play well in a few games and then retire with bad knees.

I would be more worried about Jacquizz Rodgers and Tony Gonzalez than Steven Jackson.

Out of the Rams, Bucs and Falcons, my guess is that the Falcons should be the ‘easiest’ game. They don’t have tremendous edge rushers (like St. Louis does) so our o-line should be able to survive another week.

JP might be needed to replace Unger this week, so it might be a moot point. My concern would be at center, you don’t necessarily have to be the strongest guy, but you do need to know the blocking assignments. Putting him at RG sets him up to have to take on the 1-technique more on a one one one basis. That might be a problem in moving him there.

Disagree that ATL is easiest of our last 3. Their dome is a tough venue, their QB is 3x better then either Clemens or Glennon, and our weakness (defending passes to the TE) matches up against Tony Gonzales.

Last year we went down there thinking their run game was weak and they gashed us. This year they are #32 in the league in rushing, deja vu?

I agree about playing Atlanta at home….. and would normally agree with comment about matching up against a quality TE, but I think that without Roddy White and Julio Jones, Gonzalez is much easier to handle.

Still – St. Louis is an awful matchup for us, particularly in their dome with their edge pass rushers.

Bucs are a classic 0-8 team that is much better than their record shows.

I can see hitting rookies up for huge tabs when they used to have mega- guaranteed contracts, but now they have a low scale until they get a second contract. Just make the rookies carry luggage and helmets after the new CBA.

Colts have been on the right side of circumstances again,, favoring them to win. I don’t think they are a top 2 Team. They’re at best, a Top 10 team,, barely at that. If Gary Kubiak didn’t go down with a mini stroke and caused all the commotion on the Texans side,, Colts would have been blown out by an Un-drafted QB,, on National TV.

The Colts are obviously favored by the national media. It is interesting to me that they were down by 18 at the half and made a comeback run in the second half, much like the Seahawks who were down by 21, yet they rise a slot in the ESPN rankings while Seattle remains unchanged… not that rankings matter.

HawkFromDay1,, Huge Difference between the two… Colts’ streak is Lucky (multiple biased Ref Calls by an inept crew and the opponent Coach having mini stroke at half time) which clearly cannot continue,,,, if you say it can continue, then it’s clear that you’re being ignorant….

For us, we’re playing bad but we have an ELITE QB carrying us on his shoulders….that can continue,, all the way to the Superbowl….

It is time for this team to get out to a strong start. They need to get some early momentum and keep the defense off the field. I want to see long, time killing drives from this team early. That means RUN the F*ing ball. When the beast is running for 6 yards per carry in a game…feed him. Kill the time and run it down the field, then play action, boom. We need to see this Sunday morning. I can’t take another stinker for half the game and clawing back. Time to get back to dominating, seahawks football.

I consider myself a hardcore casual fan meaning I am not an x’s and o’s guy like a few here but what I sew from my couch is Hawks D being overly aggressive in stopping the run.

They aren’t getting pushed around at the point of attack as much as backers filling the wrong gaps too quickly. The runner many times runs into a pile and then spins away and shoots an open gap. We aren’t wrapping up and they get away for large gains.

To me this is way easier to fix then being physically dominated at the point of attack which has been the case in prior years.

Stacy and the Rams ran for 160 last week so appears to be me more than a 1 week wonder.

Personally, I think Indy’s 18-point comeback on the road is more impressive than Seattle’s 21 point comeback at home. Especially considering Seattle’s win was against a winless team while enjoying arguably the best home filed advantage in the NFL. Indy beat a a much better team, that took Seattle to overtime and lost by 1 to KC (the #1 team in the NFL) the previous week.

Plus, Indy already beat Seattle. The rankings can be justified, as far as power rankings go.

You conventionally leave out the part were the Colts were ripped off by the refs on a clear fumble recovery as shown in replay and mentioned several times by the announcers. That was inside the 30yard line and could have easily lead to a first half score for the Colts. They still came back in the second half from almost as large a hole as we did. The Texan’s coach going down certainly played into the emotional letdown, but one day you will actually have to take off your anti Luck glasses and see the facts that he was a key factor with his second half performance to lead them to another victory.

Nah,, Most of you are brainwashed when it comes to Colts and Andrew Luck. I know what I saw and I trust my own eyes. They were already up 21-3 at half time, If Texans coach did not go down in that way,,, Colts would have been blown out. Undrafted Rookie QB was out-playing Andrew Luck by a Mile…

It’s not only an emotional let down….they had about 15 minutes to re-assign play calling duties and they had Zero time to make half-time adjustments….Anyone with good football knowledge knows those are Huge advantage to Colts (I call that Lucky)

P.S., Luck threw directly at the Texans CB, Twice, if they caught it, those would have been interceptions….That’s what I call Lucky…

Incognito was the main dirty player on the Rams for years, not at all surprised, a tiger doesn’t change his stripes.

Agreed with the PP, with the new rookie salary scale, making a rookie pick up a $30,000 dinner tab is just ridiculous and cruel. In some cases that’s 1/10th of his annual salary, and when you factor in taxes, it’s probably 1/5th of his annual take home pay.

Yeah, I think of the effect the power outage had at the Super Bowl, and figure that having the head coach have some sort of fit leading to collapse and getting carted off at halftime — when he was walking off the field at the start of halftime — would lead to complete and utter chaos at halftime, and probably no adjustments. In the NFL, this is a big deal, especially if the head coach is also calling the offensive or defensive plays.

OUT OF SI: The past 48 hours in the life of Richie Incognito have been nothing short of a whirlwind — one that may land him out of work. The incident likely spells the end for Incognito in Miami; according to the Miami Herald, the 30-year-old lineman, who is playing for his third team, is “done” as a Dolphin. And none of this surprises Giants kicker Josh Brown, who has known Incognito for years. “I know Richie very well,” Brown said Monday. “None of it shocks me. I don’t know any details obviously. The league hasn’t released anything. But Richie seems to be a person with a tortured soul. He’s had these issues for quite awhile, and it’s sad.” … The Giants kicker played with Incognito at the University of Nebraska, and reunited with the lineman as a member of the St. Louis Rams from 2008-09.

Enough of this Wilson elite talk. Elite QB’s don’t throw two INTs in the red zone. Russell is awesome and makes unbelievable plays, incredible leader and is only going to get better and better, but as you like to point out with Luck, Wilson’s stats don’t place him in elite company just yet.

MoSeahawk12,, you are clueless. yankinta is the only person in the USA who has not been brainwashed by the national media and Andrew Luck. He is ALWAYS right, and because you disagree with him, you will always be wrong. Why engage him? Arguing with a doorknob is just as much fun. smh

Clueless is certainly something you know about. You’ve once again missed the point. No real surprise. I don’t think you actual read and or understand most of what you write. For the entire season you’ve been saying the Colts are lucky and this team is lucky and that team is lucky because they played after we played them or because they played against backup QBs. Saying genius level things like the Colts only beat the 9ers because we “broke them” the week before. They must be unbelievably lucky to have lucked out and beat us, the 9ers and the Broncos. Yet when they come back from 18 down that luck is all because the coach went down. As I said, that certainly played into it, but if you listen to the players, they were saying they should’ve handled that part better and played the way they did the first half.
Lucky is a word used by losers when they don’t like the facts. Football is not a game based on luck.

Nice Georgia, a link from a game six years ago. Didn’t say they were red zone ints though. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that we won’t see Wilson throw two ints in the red zone again, let alone after he’s been in the league as long a Payton. Wilson has the smarts, talent and skill to avoid many of those days.

No guarantee the team gets any of the three injured players any time soon.

Breno can play as soon as he’s ready. Pete says he’s still a few weeks away.

Okung cannot play any game until the Vikings game on the 17th. Doesn’t mean he will be ready for that game, but that this is the first game he can play. Sounds promising that he will be back.

Harvin must be added to the 53 man roster no later than Tuesday November 12th. If he isn’t added to the 53 by that date he must be shut down for the year. Most likely the team will move him to the 53 man roster on the 12th and then he too will be a day to day, week to week, game time decision. He may play against the Vikings, he may not. He may be ready for the Saints. He may not.

Just as Carroll handles all injury information, the only way you will know any of these three are ready to play is when you see them line up in uniform on game day. Until then it’s all yes, no, maybe, not quite, almost, just not ready, and of course ‘it will be a game time decision…(code for he won’t play)’.

My point is that all elite QBs have had multiple Ints in games.
And without looking it up I would say that most if not all of them have had a game or more where they have thrown two picks in the red zone.

Anyone remember Brett Farve, Arguably one of the greatest QBs of all time? And also the NFL leader in career INTs.

Wilson will have a bad game now and then just like all the other elite QBs do.

Got it Georgia, I’ve seen Farve do it, Elway among others. Not saying Wilson isn’t already great and among the leaders at his position, well on his way to becoming the best Seahawks QB ever. Just seems the word elite gets thrown around a lot. For one here Wilson can be the “only” elite QB out of 32 teams and it just makes me laugh. I’d still go with Brady, Rodgers, P Manning, Brees at the top and then would place Wilson right on the edge of those guys only because they’ve done it longer and all have won a Superbowl or three.

I stopped reading the posts of “those of whom we do not speak” after he questioned the character of Mike Rob. Get a clue, guys. Just scroll right on past. I can get a feel for how he behaves by watching your responses. That’s how I know his gout has flared up again. Comedians have learned that some things are treated most appropriately with sarcastic disregard.

I don’t think Wilson is at ‘Elite’ QB status by any possible criteria just yet.

He’s VERY good. Assuming he doesn’t get killed out there this year, he has several years to lead this team. And he is one of only three QB’s Seattle has ever had that I would consider a true Franchise QB (Zorn, Kreig, and Wilson).

But that word Elite when talking about QB’s gets thrown around way to liberally. I’d say there are only a handful of truly elite QB’s in the NFL right now. Payton, Brees, Rogers, Brady…and the list pretty much stops there.

The idiot in Pitt was almost at elite status but he’s really fallen off. Flaco looked like he might be there but came crashing to earth this season.

There’s the group that are good solid franchise guys, but not really elite (Romo, Rivers, Eli, Dalton, Ryan, Cutler, Wilson, Luck, Griffin, Rothlesburger, Flacco). Of this group I think Wilson, Luck and Dalton have the makings of the next group of ‘elite’ QB’s once the big four have moved on.

Then there are the rest that are the starting QB’s this year because there is nothing better out there.

Be careful what you wish for… when saying you want the Hawks to start off the game strong. The last time I can remember them doing so was against the Colts and that resulted in a loss. Not to say that would happen again, but I get the sense this team as a whole needs an edge to perform to their capabilities… in big games it’s there from the beginning. In games against losing teams and teams where the press continually say things like “Hawks should win big” there is no edge until they start losing in the game… then the edge is to come back and keep from losing.

This is a long way to say they play down to their competition I guess… but it just seems to me… the mantra of “You don’t win games in the 1st quarter…” has actually hit home more than we as fans would like. Knowing that they lost the game in ATL last year and were so close to winning is all the edge they need this week, IMO. I think they come out of the gate stronger and hopefully the end result isn’t like the Colts game.

Fact: Colts are lucky
Proof: Their worst season since 1991 happened to coincide with Andrew Luck coming out in the draft.
Further proof: Their previous worst season happened to coincide with Payton Manning coming out in the draft.

Now, only one other franchise that I’m aware of has had that kind of Luck to bring in one elite franchise quarterback to replace another immediately, and that is Green Bay. If that’s not lucky, I don’t know what is.

Since last year there is not a game that we weren’t in or in position to win at the end. That says a lot. Usually every team has a down game, but we’re at a season and a half of being in every single game.

There is no QB in the NFL, besides Luck, that I’d take over Wilson for now and/or into the future. Nobody. I don’t care if someone won a Super Bowl in the last few years, I want what I think is best projected for this team moving forward. And that’s Wilson.

However, if we are talking about guys like Brady who have 3 Super Bowl rings… well, if I get that option, I guess I’d take a retired Terry Bradshaw over Wilson if that meant I could have watched my team win 4 Super Bowls but had to accept a crappy QB situation like we had just a few years ago.

I want to see my team win it all and I want it bad. Then I want it again (and again, etc.).

I have a bad feeling that if I get to see the Hawks win it all that I’m not going to be much for celebrating. It’ll be more of a sign of relief with the second one being a party type attitude.

Man, if you can’t even enjoy your team winning the SB then what’s the effing point of watching? That’s plain sad to me. You have to enjoy the ride as well as the destination or you’re probably going to be unhappy a lot of the time. Maybe that’s why this blog is like 75+ % whining and hand wringing when the team is 8-1?

Without knowing the specifics of this situation, Incognito and Ireland were both already douche bags. I would guess that Martin is truly more sensitive than most NFL players. Most will just live with abuse. Let’s be real, what’s tolerated between players and between coaches and players would get you fired in most work places. This is battle. And I’m not excusing racial slurs or belittling people just for the sake of it. Those aren’t legitimate motivation tools. And I also think it’s stupid to expect rookies to pick up giant tabs. They might never get a big contract. Most won’t. Hair cuts and hazing are one thing, 15,000 $ bills are another.

So the two of you have the God given right to tell me how I’m supposed to root and how I’m supposed to feel after wins and losses? You don’t think I’ll be happy after a Super Bowl win – even in “relief” of finally winning the big one. Really?

And most of my comments have been pretty positive in comparison to many of the doom and gloom comments we’ve been reading in recent weeks – no?

Well, I don’t believe in god given rights, but yeah, I do have the right to tell you anything I want to if you must know. Not on this blog though. That’s up to the people that run it. And you certainly have the right to ignore it or say whatever you want to me. I wasn’t really telling you how to root anyways. I told you it was sad IMO and offered some advice. It’s up to you what you do with it. It doesn’t hurt me if you stop yourself from enjoying the Seahawks.

And yes, I said the blog had been full of whining and hand wringing. I didn’t say you, Bobby. You have been a breath of fresh air. You’re sure to be disappointed if you set unrealistic expectations. Not that you shouldn’t have high expectations. I do. I don’t care if the Hawks win SB 48 on a blown call. That’s life. See SB 40. I’ll enjoy myself either way.

It’s true that many Hawks fans don’t know what to do at 8-1 since we’ve never been here, but appreciating the ride along the way as opposed to dissecting every transgression is seemingly the most logical way to get the most out of being a fan, but I could stand corrected.

How long would it take for cognito to get signed by another team if he was released by Miami? Less than 24 hrs thats the reality!i would take him on the hawks in a heartbeat.i can’t stand the guy as a human being but I love him as a football player- the funny thing is that stuff happens on every team in the leauge and cognito is just one of many scumbags. Trust me-

It’s awesome to be 8-1, but it’s incredibly frustrating to watch the training wheels come back on the offense due to the line. And the run d falling apart just like last year is very troubling. Seattle hasnt had a complete, solid game vs a good team yet this year.

I’ve had more fun watching us scrap to 6-4 or so…

But I must say, it was fun watching them claw their way back from 21 down, and to see Beastmode get on track. I hope that continues.

And really, with a team this talented, we should be winning. Here’s hoping the team gets to the point where it’s more than the sum of its parts– right now, the team is something less. And yet they’re 8-1…ain’t it great?!

Incognito, despit a nice family and growing up with many advantages, is always angry. The guy has serious mental problems.

Whether or not Dolphins coaches asked him to toughen up Martin, he went apeshit. The guy called him the n word, and threatened him and his family. He’s done in the NFL, and will be lucky to escape jail.

Ireland is a huge tool, and him and the staff will get their comeuppance as well. This one is gonna be real messy…

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